HOW MATERIAL GETS PUT IN SECRET FILES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00561R000100010043-3
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 17, 2012
• Sequence Number: 43
• Publication Date: April 2, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/17 :CIA-RDP91-00561 R0001 00010043-3
1985
ED 2 April 1985
'!g.4 ' e -n"
ON PAGE - ~
How Material Gets Put in
By RICHARD HAI.LORAN
J spWl 10 lb N w Yet Tlmr
WASHINGTON, April 1- The fol-
lowing paragraph, taken from a
memorandum setting out objectives
'for the Navy's 1si86 budget, was clas-
sified "Secret." In its entirety, it
"The Wavy must continue to attract
and retain sufficient numbers of high-
quality, skilled and motivated people.
C pensa quality of IIfe im-
the job marine.. Ways must competitive
be i
found
to reduce requirements for adminis-
trative functions, reduce personnel
turbulence and permanent change of
station moves."
In context, the paragraph was one
of four under the heading of "General
Programming Objectives." One in-
structed planners to assure that the
Navy was ready to fight "today,
across the decade and beyond the
turn of the century." Another said de.
ployments around the world would
continue. A third, also in its entirety,
ordered: "Take maximum advan-
tage of our technological superiori-
The four paragraphs were in a
document given to a reporter by
someone who hoped to influence poli-
cy. All were marked "Secret."
'Serious Damage' a Measure
Why those paragraphs were classi-
fied secret is not exactly clear, for the
secret classification, according to
Executive .Order 12356, "shall be ap-
plied to "'i'nformation, the unauthor-
ized disclosure of which reasonably
could be expected to cause serious
damage to ''the national security."
Could the disclosure of an effort by
the Navy to enlist and'keep,good sail-
ors be reasonably expected' to cause
"serious damage" to the national se-
curity of the United States? ?
Or is this -a classic can of the ex-
tent to which some Government offi-
cials abuse, misuse and overuse the
authority to keep information secret,
thereby rendering the system almost
meaningless at times?
Whatever the answers, the Reagan
Administration, which has vigorously
sought to reduce the flow of Govern-
ment information into the public do-
main, seems lately to have concluded
that the classification system itself is
a part of the problem because so
many people, in and out of Govern-
ment, have lost respect for it.
Meese Is Dubious
The new Attorney General, Edwin
Meese 3d, said recently: "We have
far too much classified information in
the Federal Government. A lot of
things which shouldn't be classified
are, and therefore there is a kind of
Secret Files
ho-hum attitude toward the protect complete details. In' the Indian
don of national security' informs- Ocean, an officer aboard the aircraft
tion. carrier Constellation was asked when
tit sailors would have liberty in port.
He urged that the system be
ened "so that only material that Ship movements were classified, be
y' to be kept secret in the in- said. But a sailor had a calendar
man
terests of national defense or national marked: "Perth, 16 days."
security is classified." He asked the JL, Many disclosures of confidential In-:.
sure that information was not "im-
properly disclosed."
There is considerable evidence that ;
the system has major problems. In'
the vaults of the Defense Department
alone are 1.2 million documents clas-
sified "Top Secret," the highest of the
routine classifications for informa-
tion that supposedly would cause "ex-
ceptionally grave damage" to na-
tional security if It got out.
Information is classified for a vari-
ety of reasons, only a few of which re-
late unquestionably to national se-
curity. . . ... _
A small portion is so marked to pre-
vent technology from falling into the
hands of adversaries, to preserve a
negotiating position, to conceal mili-
tary operations, or to protect intelli-
gence sources and methods. Dean' '
Rusk, Secretary of State in the Ken-;
nedy and Johnson Administrations,
once estimated that 5, percent of the
information fell into those categori.
Much information is classified tesol
obtain advantage in political infight-.
lug in a city where, as the cliche..
holds, information is power. Some
documents are stamped "Confiden-
tial" to cover up shortcomings, espe-
cially in the testing of weapons.
Much of It Is Habit
Large amounts of information are
classified out of habit. In Korea, a
correspondent asked if an infantry
company was at full strength. That
information was classified, an officer
said. But a chart tacked to the wall
behind the first sergeant's desk gave.
seeking to influence policy, a budget
debate, the outcome of an election.
Secretary of Defense Caspar W.
Weinberger said in a speech that the
Soviet Union had placed listening de-
vices made with American tech-
nology near a submarine base. He
was seeking to support his case for
cutting off the flow of technology.
Until then, the discovery of the device
had been secret.
Useful for Certain Purposes
For similar reasons, a senior offi-
cial read to a reporter an analysis of
Soviet naval developments from a
highly secret assessment. A general
gave a reporter a report on Indian
dissidents in Nicaragua that was
marked "confidential." A lieutenant
colonel read a critique of the Salvado-
ran army that was "secret."
So much is classified that officials
cannot keep track of it. The Air Force
inadvertently listed in its budget this
year a secret aircraft called Aurora,
for which it planned to asked $2.3 bil-
lion in 1987, compared with $80 mil-
lion for 1986.
In the invasion of Grenada, the Ad-
ministration justified its ban on re-
porters by asserting a need to pre-
serve operational security. So Penta-
gon photographers filmed a special
helicopter that had been kept secret,
then. handed the result to the met-
works Ao broadcast. ...
Definitions Used for Classification
special to The INw Yak Tin,
WASHINGTON, April 1-Although
no law authorizing Government offi-
cials to classify information has been
adopted by Congress, an executive or-.
der signed by President Reagan on
April 2, 1982, permits the following
categories:
Top Secret - Information that
could. cause "exceptionally grave
damage to the national security" if
released.
Secret - Information that could,
cause "serious damage to the na-
tional security" if released.
Confidential Information that
could cause "damage to the national
security" if released.
In addition, there are classifica-
tions more sensitive than "top se-
cret" with code names such as
"Umbra" that are themselves secret,
as are the various categories of infor-
mation they cover. Some documents
are marked for limited distribution or
for "eyes only," meaning the ad-
dressee alone.
Information dealing with cryp-
tology or nuclear matters has addi-
tional categories as does information
involving intelligence sources and
methods. An old Washington saw
holds that the most sensitive classi-
fication is "Bum before Reading."
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/02/17: CIA-RDP91-00561 R0001 00010043-3